Anticipation

 Anticipation: the art of knowing expecting something to happen.  When I look at the idea of anticipation, there are two main elements.  To accurately anticipate something, you have to have some knowledge of the subject.  Because my kids have a tendency to drop food at dinner, my dogs know who to sit by when we sit down to eat.  A good quarterback that studies film and practices well can anticipate a receiver coming open.  If he waits until he is open, it is too late.  As a cautious driver, I expect the cars around me to do something they shouldn't.  As a result, I am constantly on the look out to ensure my safety.  The key element in all these examples is that in order to effectively anticipate, I have to acquire some knowledge.  I new dog doesn't know where to sit at dinner so if something is dropped they may miss out.  A quarterback that doesn't prepare properly may misread a defense or overthrow his receiver.  A driver distracted by his or her phone will miss important clues while driving and may cause an accident to happen that could have been avoided.  

The second part of anticipation is action.  When the time is right, you must act.  Without action, anticipation is passive and thereby useless.  If my dog knows where to sit and then someone drops food but my dog fails to act, what is the purpose of having this knowledge?  My dog didn't get what she really wanted.  If the quarterback goes through all the practice and training but fails to throw the ball, what good is that knowledge.  He will have lost the opportunity to gain yards.  If I am paying attention to the driver next to me and he swerves into my lane but I fail to move out of the way, the accident still happens.  What good did that knowledge do me?  

When we are talking with our students this week, we are going to be working on both of these elements.  We can't expect them to anticipate if they don't have the knowledge they need.  Once students have acquired that knowledge, we have to provide them the opportunity to apply that knowledge.  In the end, we want our students to be proactive in how they approach their lives and their dealings.  

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